Knowledge N Fact4u

The Web and the Internet began to really heat up and receive significant media exposure starting around 1994. Initially, the Web started as a great way for academics and researchers to distribute information; but as millions of consumers flocked to the Internet, it began to spawn completely new business models. Three good examples of innovative models include:   • Amazon - Amazon (which opened its doors in July, 1995) houses a database of millions of products that anyone can browse at any time. It would have been impossible to compile a list this large in any medium other than the Web.   • Ebay - Online auctions make it easy and inexpensive for millions of people to buy and sell any imaginable item. It would be impossible to do this at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner with any medium other than the Web.   • Epinions - Thousands of people contribute to a shared library of product reviews. One of the Web's greatest strengths is its worldwide view a...

Find out how these versatile plugand-play devices can store data Similar in nature to a conventional hard drive, a fl ash drive is a very convenient device capable of not only storing data, but also transferring it quickly between computers and digital devices. A form of solid-state storage (electronic, with no moving parts), fl ash drives are both robust and small enough to fit in your pocket and yet can hold vast quantities of data depending on how great their storage capacity. Flash memory is a type of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) stored as small blocks. The chunks of data stored using fl ash memory can be erased and re-programmed electronically, making it a quick, effective way of transferring files. When you insert the fl ash drive into the computer’s USB port, the computer automatically detects the device. It then acts like an external hard drive, allowing you to immediately begin storing and retrieving data. The internal workings of a fl ash dr...

Only a few years ago, seeing in 3-D meant peering through a pair of red-and-blue glasses, or trying not to go cross-eyed in front of a page of fuzzy dots. It was great at the time, but 3-D technology has moved on. Scientists know more about how our vision works than ever before, and our computers are more powerful than ever before -- most of us have sophisticated components in our computer that are dedicated to producing realistic graphics. Put those two things together, and you'll see how 3-D graphics have really begun to take off. Most computer users are familiar with 3-D games. Back in the '90s, computer enthusiasts were stunned by the game Castle Wolfenstein 3D, which took place in a maze-like castle. It may have been constructed from blocky tiles, but the castle existed in three dimensions -- you could move forward and backward, or hold down the appropriate key and see your viewpoint spin through 360 degrees. Back then, it was revolutionary and quite amazing. Nowaday...

HOW IS FIBRE OPTIC BROADBAND USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF COMMUNICATION? Remember dial-up internet? Most of us do and it’s not so very long ago that speeds of 56K were considered fast when it came to accessing the delights of the world wide web. And while it may have been fine for checking GeoCities pages and bulletin boards, as our demands and uses of the internet became more complex so higher speeds became more necessary, can you imagine using iTunes or YouTube on a 56K modem? Neither could the service providers who now vie for our attention, trying to find the balance between faster connections and lower prices. Currently the fastest speed on offer in the UK and US and most of Europe lie somewhere between 2MB and 10MB while China, South Korea and Japan lead the way in ‘fibre-to-the-home’ broadband lines. However many western nations such as America, Sweden and Romania are following close behind. Over the next few pages we’ll be explaining fibre optics, the amazing technology behind the n...

Seen by many to be the next stage in the evolution of music distribution and reproduction, Spotify is bringing music to the world of cloud computing.  Spotify is a new application that is available for PC and Mac – along with many modern smartphones – which allows you to stream music from a vast catalogue distributed through the Spotify central hub and sourced from every other Spotify user. To use Spotify you would first need to download the Spotify software from www.spotify.com. Once installed, Spotify looks a lot like other media players such as iTunes, but there is a big difference. With Spotify, you don’t have to download the music in order to listen to it (although this is also possible). Instead you can simply stream it over your internet connection.  To use Spotify you would fi rst need to download the Spotify software from www.spotify.com. Once installed, Spotify looks a lot like other media players such as iTunes, but there is a big difference. With Spotif...

Used increasingly in digital products, how does this technology work? Electronic ink (or electrophoretic ink) consists of millions of microcapsules. Each one contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles, all suspended within a clear fluid. When these microcapsules are subjected to a positive or negative electric field, the corresponding particles rise to the top, becoming visible to the eye and colouring that microcapsule.  eBook reader displays coat electronic ink onto a sheet of plastic film, which in turn is laminated to a layer of circuitry. This circuitry forms a pattern of pixels that can be controlled by the display’s software driver, allowing images and text to be displayed in the form of a traditional page of physical paper.   Electronic ink displays differ from LCDs by utilising ambient light to illuminate pixels, with the rays merely reflecting off their surface. This means they have very low power demand, a...

QR codes allow symbols, phrases and URLs to be hidden from sight. But how do they work? A QR Code (QR stands for ‘quick response’) is a two-dimensional matrix barcode that consists of a series of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. They work by embedding a series of information within preset boundaries, the data being located and identified by a series of alignment, timing and positional patterns within the code. The codes are read by scanners and smartphone cameras installed with a QR-deciphering software (these tend to be freely available as apps, or in some cases, are natively installed in the phone’s firmware). In practice, this allows any smartphone user to hold their device up to a QR code and decipher its encrypted data, receiving a message, image or URL link.  READ ALSO:- How a speaker works ? How OLEDs work? How do semiautomatic pistols work?

Even the clearest of recordings are useless without a good loudspeaker  The modern loudspeaker, as demonstrated by the Monitor Audio Apex series, produces sound by converting electrical signals from an audio amplifier into mechanical motion, from which sound waves emanate. Loudspeakers can consist of an individual transducer (audio driver) or a series of drivers encased within a large chassis, each dealing with a certain frequency band to improve the overall gamut and fidelity of reproduced sounds. For example, larger subwoofer speakers deal with low frequencies, while smaller speakers called tweeters deal with high frequencies. These various drivers are controlled by a filter network, which organises the different frequency signals coming from the amplifier and directs them to the driver most suitable to deal with it. The construction of a single loudspeaker driver is a complex process, the central element of which is a concave plastic or paper conical disc. This i...

TVs have come a long way since the massive boxes hogging the corner of your living room. Yet even your current fl at-screen LCD TV will soon look unwieldy compared to the next generation of products. With OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology TVs, computer monitors, mobile phones and pretty much anything else with a screen are set to become thinner than ever before. OLED is a major step on from the LCD technology that is currently used. In simple terms, it is created from organic materials that emit light when power is passed through it. An OLED display contains thin fi lms of organic materials placed between two conductors; as the current passes through, the display lights up. This self-illuminating function removes the need for the backlight that is an essential requirement of a traditional LCD screen. There are two kinds of OLED display, of which AMOLED (active matrix) is the most important. Designed for larger displays (over 7cm/3in), it allows for each individual pixel o...

Apple TV is designed to work with many Apple products and services, including iPhones, iPads, iTunes, a desktop PC and of course a TV. The built-in software, a stripped-down version of Mac OS X, offers access to movies and shows that you can rent any time, and the built-in Wi-Fi chip utilises your broadband connection to push the rented video to the Apple TV box.  It also connects with your desktop-based iTunes library to create a single hub with which to view your media in the comfort of your favourite chair. Despite not physically storing video, the 8GB fl ash chip is used to cache fi lms as they are playing to ensure that they do not skip and in most cases the full film will be downloaded to the Apple TV fl ash memory even if you haven’t fi nished watching it. The controller software is the hub around which everything works. Once connected to a TV and a computer running iTunes, it will detect when changes are made, such as renting a video, and it will then send the relevant ...

Motion control systems combine the data from their internal gyroscopes and accelerometers to produce super-accurate information about location in space (X, Y and Z planes), and movement about the controller’s axis (pitch, roll and yaw). For extra precision, some systems also throw in a micro-compass (like those used in GPS and satnav systems). So once the device has accurately detected motion, this needs to be translated to movements that fi t on the screen. The Wii system uses infrared tracking to determine the cursor’s position on screen. The sensor box above the screen has sets of fi ve infrared (IR) LEDs at both sides. These, plus the IR detector at the top-end of the Wii Remote, mean that the controller’s position can be triangulated relative to the screen. So if the LEDs are detected towards the top of the Wii Remote’s fi eld of view, the cursor is displayed at the bottom of the screen and vice versa. IR LEDs are used because regular visible light-emitting diodes would be too dif...

The colourful profi le of the semi-automatic weapon continues to shape public opinion, but there is more to its substance than style alone. The semi-automatic pistol is a functionally different animal to the romanticised revolver of the Wild West. The motivation for semi – and full for that matter – automatics derive from energy generated by the fi ring process to self-load and prime a new round. This comes in a variety of fl avours, including recoil, blowback and gas. Recoil is the gun’s kick-back, balancing the bullet’s forward momentum – or as Newton says, with every action must come an equal and opposite reaction. Here, the opposing recoil force drives the gun backwards, initiating momentum in the ‘slide’ and barrel that are mechanically engaged. Separation of the two typically allows the breech to open as the slide carries on, self-loading and cocking the gun in the process.  With blowback the barrel and slide are not wed. The barrel is typically fi xed to the frame wit...

Any bowling alley works through a combination of a wooden or synthetic lane fl anked by semicylindrical gutter channels, an automated pinsetter machine and ball sorter, and a return ball gully and stacker. The glossy, 60-f00t lane is normally constructed out of 39 strips of sugar maple wood, which itself is coated with varying layers of oil down its length. This coating is often heavy towards the bowler end, before dissipating down the alley. This allows a spinning ball more purchase in the fi nal quarter of its journey, enabling pro-bowlers to hit the pins at varying angles. At the pin end of the alley, starting at the termination of the lane, lays the pin-deck. This deck is where the pins are set up and knocked down, and thanks to this constant activity, it is coated with a durable impact-resistant material. Behind the deck lies the fi rst part of the mechanical pinsetter machine. The pit and shaker collects both the fallen ball and pins before shuffl ing them to its rear and into m...

How does a large glass cylinder become a tiny thread of fl exible glass? The tiny filament of glass at the core of a length of optical fiber starts out as two tubes. These tubes are made from fused quartz glass, which is mainly silica to give it flexible properties. First the glass tubes are dipped in corrosive hydrofluoric acid to remove any oily residues, they are then placed in a pair of lathes that spin and heat both tubes with a hydrogen and oxygen flame. When the tubes turn white they are nearing peak temperature and at 2,000°C the tubes melt together to form one longer tube.  This longer tube is placed in another lathe where it is turned and heated by a burner before being injected with chemical gases containing liquid forms of silicon and germanium. The heat and gases cause a chemical reaction that leaves a fine white soot inside the tube. As the burner travels up and down the length of the tube the soot fuses to create a solid glass core. The outer glass tube will for...

Water has been used to power man-made mechanisms for hundreds of years, mostly in food production in the form of a mill wheel to grind corn. However, using the kinetic energy of water probably became a reality earlier than you thought. In 1878, inventor Lord Armstrong lit his home in Northumberland using only the power of a nearby waterfall. It’s not until the latter half of the 20th Century that we began to take advantage of the massive potential of hydroelectric power. Intriguingly, both the dirty and environmentally unfriendly coal power plants and clean, green hydro-power use almost identical technology to generate power. Central to a coal-fi red plant is a turbine: coal is burned to produce heat energy, which is used to boil water into steam, which then drives a turbine. Hydroelectric power removes the coal and steam elements and instead, fl owing water turns the blades of each turbine.  By damming a river next to a drop in elevation and releasing a co...

Discover how to get milk from a cow The milk is extracted using a vacuum applied to the cow’s teats. Milk stored in the udder is drawn into a system of pipes leading to a receiver tank where the milk is collected before being passed to the cooling tank. A ‘cluster’ of four teat cups – each consisting of a stainless steel shell, a fl exible rubber lining and a short pulse pipe – are attached to the teats. Between the outer shell and lining is a pulsation chamber that collapses with the addition of air from a pulsator. When the chamber is devoid of air (milk phase) a vacuum is created, which gently draws milk from the teat. When the chamber is fi lled with air (rest phase) the lining of the teat cup collapses and massages the teat. Continued repetition of these phases not only aids milk production by mimicking the action of a suckling calf, it also promotes blood circulation. To help the milk fl ow away through the pipeline, once out of the cow the milk is mixed with air added by...

Shattering the science behind what makes the breakable unbreakable Bullet-resistant glass works by absorbing a bullet’s kinetic (movement) energy and dissipating it across a larger area. Multiple layers of toughened glass are reinforced with alternated layers of polycarbonate – a tough but fl exible transparent plastic which retains the see-through properties of glass. As a bullet strikes the fi rst glass layer, the polycarbonate layer behind it forces the glass to shatter internally rather than outwards.  This process absorbs some of the bullet’s kinetic energy. The high velocity impact also fl attens the bullet’s head. Imagine trying to pierce through a sheet of cotton with the top end of a pencil. It would be very diffi cult compared to using the sharp pointed end. The same principle applies here. The fl at-headed bullet struggles to penetrate the layer of polycarbonate. As the bullet travels through each layer of glass and polycarbonate, the process is repeated until it no l...

Coal miners literally move mountains to feed our insatiable appetite for cheap energy There’s something brutally simple about coal mining. Take away the monstrous new machinery and ecofriendly marketing jargon and it’s the same dirty, dangerous job it’s always been: fi nd the black stuff and dig it up. The two major schools of coal mining are surface mining and underground mining. To qualify for surface mining, the coal seam must lie within 60 metres of the surface. The miners’ job is to remove all of the ‘overburden’ – the cubic tons of rock, soil and trees above the coal seam – and expose the coal layer for extraction. The main tools of the trade are dynamite and dragline excavators, 2,000-ton behemoths that can move 450 tons of material with one swoop of their massive buckets. Perhaps the most dramatic and controversial surface mining technique is Mountaintop Removal (MTR), in which miners use explosives and heavy machinery to literally knock the top off a mountain – up to 200 ...

These big birds of sky-high construction are engineering marvels  Tower cranes fl ock to money. During the economic boom years, high-rise construction cranes migrated from Beijing to Shanghai to Dubai, where it was estimated in 2006 that there was one tower crane for every 44 residents of the desert boom-opolis. Tower cranes are feats of structural engineering that often outshine their creations. They are designed to stand 80 metres tall and reach 80 metres out supported only by a narrow steel-frame mast, a concrete foundation and several counterweights. The engineering principle that keeps the twiggy tower crane from tipping over is something called a ‘moment’. If you hang a weight from the crane’s jib arm, it exerts a  rotational force or torque where the arm connects to the top of the mast. The magnitude and direction of this force (clockwise or anticlockwise) is called the moment. If the weight is hung close to the mast, the magnitude of the moment is lower than if t...

The world produces over 82 million barrels of oil every day, much of it in harsh conditions, miles from shore and safety in the event of an emergency. So how is it done? Oil has been around for millions of years, located deep below the land or sea where it became trapped under layers of permeable rocks, or slowly seeping to the surface. Although examples of oil drilling were documented in 4th Century China, the fi rst modern oil-gathering structure was built in 1897, and by 1928 mobile rigs consisting of a simple barge with a drill mounted on top had set the scene for a revolution that fuelled Western industrial dominance for the next century.  Over 82 million barrels of oil are produced every single day, a process that usually starts with a range of surveys. These include geographical and geomagnetic surveys and the deep echo sounding or seismic refl ection surveys that pinpoint the likely location of a substantial deposit. Only then – and after the necessary permits have been o...